As their first school year in Bowling Green nears an end, Mia and Jacks Lancaster will look back on it having shared a unique experience.

In helping Greenwood break out the brooms to celebrate a boys’ and girls’ team championship, the siblings each claimed their respective singles championships at the Region 4 Tennis Tournament finals Wednesday at Warren Central High School.

Mia, a freshman, defeated Bowling Green’s Sydney Johnson 6-2, 6-3 for the girls’ singles title and her younger brother Jacks, a seventh-grader, beat his teammate Jonas Heartl 6-1, 6-2 for the boys’ championship.

“It’s pretty cool to have our family here,” said Jacks, whose father, Kerry, was a longtime head tennis coach at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, where his teams won eight straight team state championships. “We’re going to celebrate together. We’re both happy for each other.”

Kerry Lancaster is now Greenwood’s head girls’ tennis coach and assistant boys’ tennis coach.

Their two victories and a new boys’ doubles champion in the duo of Austin Schneller/Jacob Young was cause for celebration before the trophy presentations when coach Tim Dethridge ran onto the court with brooms in each hand symbolizing the Greenwood sweep.

With each match victory earning a team one point, Greenwood’s girls won the title by two points over runner-up Bowling Green. The Purples’ boys team also finished second and seven points behind the champion Gators.

“We’ve worked so hard for this and to be able to celebrate with our teams after the match, that’s what it’s all about,” Young said.

All region semifinalists advance to the KHSAA state tennis tournament in Lexington starting May 18.

Making their return trip as a doubles team is South Warren’s Natalie Noble/Sydney Johnson, who won their second-straight region title in a nail-biting third-set tiebreaker over Russell County’s Kalie Poston/Amelia Ackerman.

The Spartans’ duo took the first set 6-1 before falling in the second set 4-6. A back-and-forth affair had the third set tied at seven-all before they reeled off three straight points to win another title.

“It feels awesome,” Noble said. “This was our goal the whole year and it just feels great to finish it.”

Poston/Ackerman entered having upset the tournament’s No. 1 seed – Greenwood’s Catherine Gott and Samantha Springs – in the semifinals with a third-set tie breaker. As the Russell County duo needed extra sets to reach the final, so did the defending region champions.

The second-seeded pair won their third-set tiebreaker 10-8 in the semifinals and pulled out another thrilling win in a 10-7 third-set win in the finals.

“It just really makes you have to slow down and take it step by step and hit it like you know how to hit it,” Cassady said.

As much as South Warren’s second-straight doubles title brought drama, there was more in the boys’ doubles.

Schneller/Young took the first set 6-3 and fell in a 3-0 hole in the second set to Bowling Green’s Will Taylor and John Guthrie. Schneller and Young fought back to tie the second set at 6-all to force a second-set tiebreaker, which Bowling Green took easily 7-2.

Then the Greenwood duo flipped a switch to win the third-set tiebreaker 10-4.

“It’s something else,” Schneller said with a sense of relief shortly after the match. “A lot of people when they get down in that second set and lose that tiebreaker as bad as we did, 7-2, it was tough to come with a really good mindset to bounce back from that. Me and Jacob, we had a positive mentality and we just got it done.”

The boys’ singles final was the least competitive of the night, which is exactly how Lancaster and teammate Jonas Heartl wished it would be. With both locking up a state tournament appearance and Heartl pouring everything into an upset win over No. 2 seed and defending singles champion Amrit Avula from Bowling Green, both players treated the finals match like a practice round.

Lancaster, who took care of business 6-1, 6-2, said playing his teammate was just as challenging as his semifinal opponent, Zach McFall (Clinton County), whom he defeated 6-3, 6-2.

“We both played our hardest,” Lancaster said. “I just acted like it was a practice match because I honestly don’t like playing my teammates that much because when one of us wins, we might be mad at each other or something like that.”

For his sister, it took a small pep talk from dad – who is now a Greenwood assistant coach – and a few M&Ms to pull through to get the game-winning point against Bowling Green’s Sydney Johnson. Lancaster won the first set 6-2 and had to win three straight games to claim the second set 6-4.

“(Dad) handed me some M&Ms because he thought I was tired,” Lancaster said. “Emotionally, it was really hard because you think you’re going to win the second set, but you never know what could happen.

“It feels amazing. I have amazing coaches and teammates there to support me and I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Others advancing to the state tournament include Avula in boys’ singles, South Warren’s Spencer Cassady/Adam Riley in boys’ doubles, Greenwood’s Chris Agro/Tanner Gann in boys’ doubles, Greenwood’s Gott/Springs in girls’ doubles, Bowling Green’s Miriam Reber/Jordan Johnson in girls’ doubles and South Warren’s Alexis Lindsey in girls’ singles.

Boys’ doubles final

Adam Schneller/Jacob Young (Greenwood) def. Will Taylor/John Guthrie (Bowling Green) 6-3, 6-6 (2-7), 10-4

Girls’ doubles final

Natalie Noble/Sydney Cassady (South Warren) def. Kaylie Polston/Amelia Ackerman (Russell County) 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.

Boys’ singles final

Jacks Lancaster (Greenwood) def. Jonas Heartl (Greenwood) 6-1, 6-2

Girls’ singles final

Mia Lancaster (Greenwood) def. Sydney Johnson (Bowling Green) 6-2, 6-4.{&end}

This story has been updated since its initial publication to correct a reference to Kerry Lancaster’s history with the tennis team at St. Xavier High School in Louisville.